Monday, August 17, 2009

Long before the world ever heard of "Furries," I liked Tigra. Not in a weird way, or anything; that bikini was pretty hot...let's just go on.
Although I missed her first appearances in books like Giant-Size Creatures #1 and Marvel Chillers, I did catch part of her stint as a hanger-on of the Fantastic Four; then she turned up at Moondragon's Avengers try-outs in Avengers #211.
(That last was one of my first Avengers comics as a kid, Avengers #211, "...by Force of Mind!" Written by Jim Shooter, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Dan Green.)

She would later transfer over to the West Coast Avengers, the first limited series of which was great; then 102 issues ranging from not bad to total suck. Somewhere in there, writers started playing up the cat aspect of her nature, to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if poor Tigra spent an issue coughing up hairballs and playing with yarn.
So, how is her first action figure in nine years? (The last being from the Avengers cartoon in 2000. Man, I bought a lot of those and watched the show, perhaps under the misconception that if I supported it, eventually the cartoon would bring in the big guns, Cap, Iron Man, and Thor full-time. Wrongo.) Well, like Nova, she's got her good points, and her bad. Tigra is cast in orange plastic, saving a ton on orange paint; but the paint she does have is pretty nice, especially on the stripes.
Her joints are the newer Hasbro style, which means she has less articulation than the older Toy Biz Legends, but there's less breaks in the sculpt, too. I may be spoiled by DCUC, though; since Tigra's hip joints are disappointing: I didn't get enough range out of them to say, put Tigra in a sitting position, and I didn't want to force them. That's too bad, for a character that's supposed to be the agile cat-girl who's usually crouched. As happens nine times out of ten to female figures, Tigra's neck joint is a bit hindered by her hair. And her tail is not a bendy, if you were wondering.I remember being upset when Marvel Legends broke the ten dollar price point, but at $10.44, now Tigra doesn't seem like too bad of a deal: less expensive than a DCUC, only slightly more so than a much smaller Marvel Universe figure. She also comes with the head and shoulders of Nemesis/Holocaust. This is another figure were your final grade may be swayed by your appreciation of the character (or love of cat-girls), but not as much as Nova: I'd have to say Tigra's a solid B. She doesn't have as much articulation as earlier Legends like Black Widow or Ms. Marvel, but she looks better in a neutral pose, particularly her arms. Tigra is noticeably shorter than her fellow Avengers however, but that shouldn't be a deal-breaker.

If and when Hasbro continues the Marvel Legends line, there are only a few Avengers left for my ideal lineup: Quasar, Jack of Hearts, Mockingbird definitely. I wouldn't mind a Triathalon figure even.